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The bigger than life Isadora Duncan, a dancing legend, is the focus of this film. "Isadora", which came out in 1968, came and went without much fanfare. The opportunity to watch it again came when it was shown on a cable network recently. The main attraction is Vanessa Redgrave's take in the subject matter.

The biopic, directed by Karel Reisz, follows aspects of Ms. Duncan's life. One thing comes across: she was a woman ahead of her time! Her disregard for classical dance made her famous, although as shown in the film, one wonders what liberties the filmmakers took in Ms. Redgrave's renditions of works created by the famous artist.

Another thing that is clearly evident in the movie is the unhappy life of Isadora. She had no luck with anyone of her lovers. The most famous one was Paris Singer, the son of an American millionaire which ended tragically as their son and her daughter with another man drowned, something that weighed heavily on this tormented woman.

Vanessa Redgrave at the height of her beauty was magnificent in her interpretation of the troubled Isadora. Jason Robards is seen as Paris Singer, the American heir that fell in love with the dancer, but didn't seem to have much in common with her.

One of the better biopics thanks in large part to a stunning performance from Vanessa Redgrave in the title role of "Isadora" and meticulous direction from Karel Reisz who obviously knew what he was doing and displayed an obvious affection for his subject. It's intelligent and it looks great and there's a fine supporting cast so with all this going for it why does it feel like a very high-class soap opera? Perhaps because all biopics can finally do nothing but reduce their subject's lives to a series of melodramatic incidents or 'highlights'. Perhaps because most famous people's lives are dull most of the time and it's only the melodramatic incidents that people are interested in. This one spins out a series of dances, (very well recreated by Redgrave), and romantic encounters with sufficient aplomb to give it an edge over most biopics. It isn't quite in the same class as Ken Russell's shorter, rawer television version but it comes close.

ISADORA is one of those exquisitely produced big studio films of the late 60s that had a major release for 3 months and then vanished off the face of the earth forever. Some other titles this seemed to have happen to are; YOUNG WINSTON, NICHOLAS AND ALEXANDRA, MONTECARLO OR BUST (the other "Great Race" movie), STAR!, MAROONED, FINIANS RAINBOW, ON A CLEAR DAY, DARLING LILI....all presented in 70mm as souvenir ticket presentations in luxury cinemas of the time and then.....rarely revived or screened but also never forgotten, because so many people apparently saw them and remember them from this one major release. ISADORA may have been more financially successful than some mentioned above and it did have a huge impact on the beautiful Art Nouveau decor revival of the 60s (Art Deco ate the 70s..or vice versa). The look for the film was a sensation and the impact on teenage girls and their mothers was undeniable, all having a huge impact on free form ballet classes (nymphs and Grecian urns and veils) so hilariously satirized in THE BOYFRIEND in 1972. Vanessa Redgrave is synonymous with this role and one yearns for a cinema presentation of this extraordinary 20s icon now in 2005. I don't remember the film being overly criticized in 1968, it was a hit and respected for its tragic story and superb art direction. Several docos appeared on TV (one even being directed by Ken Russell) and there was quite a celebration of all things ISADORA and Vanessa in that year. But none since.

Showy but empty biography of internationally-acclaimed modern dance pioneer Isadora Duncan (1877-1927), played by Oscar-nominated Vanessa Redgrave. This scrapbook of memories directed by Karel Reisz attempts to pass off Isadora as an Auntie Mame in her later years (by way of Paris and San Francisco), given to gaily eccentric behavior which would lead to her demise. The film was advertised in the US as "The Loves of Isadora", shrewdly shifting the emphasis from Isadora herself to the men in her life (anything to bring audiences in); however, one might be tempted to say the movie follows suit, as Isadora's lovers--Paris Singer (Jason Robards), Gordon Craig (James Fox) and Sergey Esenin (Ivan Tchenko)--are portrayed as the fuel to her fire. This angle might have worked in a romantic-drama context were it not for the prologue which features a 12-year-old Isadora vowing allegiance to her art over love. Redgrave is neither American nor a dancer--and she can't imitate either (her exaggerated American accent has a monotone twang, as if she were speaking English phonetically). While the actress is certainly lovely--and, in performance, her long arms are eloquent and expressive--one can immediately tell director Reisz is protecting his star with the editing. The film looks beautiful, but it isn't beautifully realized. It's tumultuous and melodramatic and volatile, but there must have been more to Isadora Duncan than her craving for male companionship and her affection for the Soviets. When she's in a man's arms, staring into his eyes, it's fitting that Reisz should intercut shots of Isadora dancing alone on a bare stage, photographed from above. But when that romance is over, the filmmaker takes his diva right along into the arms of another man. A batty Isadora in her late forties complains aloud of being betrayed, while this picture--ostensibly about her--is the ironic response. **1/2 from ****

Biopic of the iconoclastic dancer Isadora Duncan. Set in the last year of her life in the South of France, with flashbacks to her earlier years, each focusing on a different lover (but by no means all of them, and a little disappointing that the mores of the time probably prevented portrayal of her homosexual relationships).

I have known about this film since I saw as a kid the famous still of the accident that caused her death, and have wanted to see it ever since. Even more so when I found out that she was married to Russian poet Sergei Esenin.

I adore Vanessa Redgrave, and with two reservations - that she doesn't really look much like Duncan (while being characteristically gorgeous and watchable) and her unconvincing American accent - she gives a wrenching and believable performance as the histrionic dancer whose grip on reality becomes increasingly tenuous as tragedies and disappointments accumulate. It would have been so easy to overplay this role, but Redgrave gives it just the right touch of passion and neurosis without ever descending into melodrama.

I know nothing about dance, but Redgrave's dancing performances totally convinced me, and for that alone she deserved her Oscar nomination. It must have taken an incredible amount of work and preparation from her, in addition to learning dialogue in convincingly accented French, German and Russian.

In many of her movies, Redgrave's hair is a character on its own, and this one is no exception. I think that that was one of the things that didn't gel for me in the movie: as beautiful as it is, it became intrusive. I think she was cast partly on the basis of her glorious mane aside from her acting talent, but it is superfluous to the action and it doesn't fit with my idea of Isadora Duncan.

Despite its weaknesses as a big-budget, big-name movie of its time, it still deserves to be more widely known and viewed.

Why this excellent film is not available on DVD is beyond me. I just recently watched the film on an old VHS tape borrowed from the library. It was well worn and faded, but I was riveted by the amazing performance of Vanessa Redgrave as the famous dancer Isadora Duncan. I would love to see the original 168 minute film released (I viewed a cut version) in all it's intended glory. Ms. Redgrave was nominated in 1968 for her role in this film, but lost to Barbra Streisand and Katherine Hepburn. It was obviously a very strong category that year for best actress. However, this performance by Ms. Redgrave should be available to see today on Blu Ray. In my opinion, it is not to be missed. Film fans take note! If you have not seen this film, search it out. Check your local library for the VHS tape if you still have a VCR for it is well worth viewing the wonderful performance by the legendary Vanessa Redgrave.

It's biopic of famed dancer Isadora Duncan (Vanessa Redgrave) who lived from 1877 to 1927. Most of this is a bit low intensity despite the freeing performance of Redgrave. She is the star and the sun of the show. The intensity picks up with the Soviet part of her life. It's really the only major drama that she faces. Before that, her life has a lot of loves and life but it's not the highest of drama. The Soviet part is really interesting and I think the movie could have centered around that. Let's face it. This is all about Vanessa Redgrave. This is a compelling watch for her performance.

The life of Isadora Duncan, a famed artist and dancer of the 1900s to the 1920s, is explored in this film. She is embodied by actress Vanessa Redgrave and it is a match made in heaven. Vanessa wears the cloth of Isadora like a wrap, gracefully but with firm determination. We see Isadora in present day - 1927 - and also in flashbacks that show how she came into prominence. Isadora's presence and personality draws the viewer in as she herself tends to withdraw. You feel her movements throughout the film as being small but meaningful and her breaths are but wisps. Lilts. Tips. Vanessa as Isadora is hardly trying to emphasize any one thing and therefore makes the film an experience in feeling everything. A lightness permeates the film, along with the symbolism of the man driving the car that almost hit her, of whom she searches for thereafter. She does have men in her life - James Fox and Jason Robards, who's a millionaire of the Singer sewing machines empire. But they are only secondary to Vanessa. A mysteriousness and sadness encircle the life we are witnessing through losses, fights, and political views. Take in the life of Isadora - the passion, the impractical, the flighty, the will. She might be her own undoing, but she was Isadora Duncan.

Over the past weekend, I viewed a VHS of Isadora. Throughout the movie (and I assume this was in the script), the motif of the scarf is repeated in various ways showing that she loved scarves and billowy fabric; even if she didn't in real life, the reinforcement of the scarf (as well as her pursuit of the man driving the Bugatti), gives her death a logic and finality that "real" life cannot. Surely, Isadora's death must have been so fictional as not to be believed, as well as the fate of her children. Film-makers must craft a film in such a way that the viewer believes that every moment is true. Compare this screenplay with what Robert McKee says about writing screenplays in his incomparable book, Story, and you'll agree that the Isadora screenplay is undervalued. Also, Redgrave's performance is surely one of the finest of any era--and should have gotten the Oscar, but thankfully won at Cannes (outside the Hollywood political machine). The length of the film, to me, was no problem; the life of Isadora Duncan, could not have been shown in less. The stage scenes of her dancing were perfectly directed and illustrated how she could fill a theatre while also being rejected.

I remember rather enjoying this on its original release and even that I watched a very small part being made whilst happening to be in Yugoslavia in 1967 but it seems a sad spectacle today. What then must have seemed daring, revolutionary and inspiring, now looks a little silly and pretentious. Poor Vanessa Redgrave, who must have put in hours to get the dance routines looking respectable, had an impossible task. She cannot dance and her acting is put severely to the test here. It may be argued that Isadora Duncan was also unable to dance in the accepted sense but then we aware of her reputed sexual allure that must have got her through many a scrape and helped her acquire some cash. Alas Vanessa is lacking in this department too. The most pertinent question is why a year or so after Ken Russell's brilliant version, Reisz even bothered to make this (and make it some 100 minutes longer!). The answer is probably that the Russell TV documentary had been little seen but now it certainly hangs on to show the world how and how not to make a bio pic.

There are several versions of this film. The original is rather long, but well worth the time spent viewing it. The subsequent edited versions -- even the so-called "director's cut" -- omit small but crucial events in Isadora's life, without which it becomes more difficult to understand how Isadora sublimated her angst into her art.

ISADORA is hard to evaluate, particularly since it exists in a truncated version mandated by the studio. Karel Reisz's original 3-hour version might have been a masterpiece for all I can tell. As it is, ISADORA is an interesting but flawed biopic. Isadora Duncan is at the center of it, a character both admirable for her dedication to her art and her willingness to defy convention, and irritating in her narcissism and histrionics. While Vanessa Redgrave is magnificent and the editing is stunning (there's an almost Proustian fluidity to the film's overall narrative structure as we jump back and forth in time), the emotional impact is a bit muted-- once again, is this because of missing footage from the earlier cut?

Real Review Posting Scoring Criteria: Acting - 1/1 Casting - 1/1 Directing - 1/1 Story - 1/1 Writing/Screenplay - 1/1

Total Base Score = 5

Modifiers: Originality: Cinematography: 1 Standout Performances: 1 (Redgrave) Personal Favorite: 0.5

Total Real Review Rating: 7.5 (rounded up for IMDB)

This is my 3rd viewing of the film. My first was at the single theatre in a small midwest town in 1969. There was one other woman in the theatre with me and it was a Sunday afternoon. My second viewing was sometime later when I was aspiring to be a film afficionado. Now the third viewing. Let me tell you it really doesn't improve with age. Universal financed this film yet didn't have the confidence to at least give it a wide screen adaption and I will say the flat screen gives ISADORA a more personal feel. So first the good things: VANESSA REDGRAVE: it's obvious that she was a driving force for propelling the film and she gives it her all. Dramatically she hits all the high and low points Technically her dancing is rudimentary. Maybe that was Duncan's style but it still looks awkward at best. Her performance was worth the Oscar Nomination, but against the other nominees that year she was not destined to win. The cinematography is breath-taking and the art direction is admirable: not items that are first on my list when I go to see a movie but were still very good. Now the bad stuff: the direction by Reisz is plodding but really not his fault. The screenplay is sedimentary: there is no way that there is one exciting scene in this film => it is heavy and, unless you know something about Duncan's life, it is totally uninteresting. What epitomizes my feelings about the film is the way it ends: you know she is strangled by her scarf being caught in the spokes of the sports car she is riding in, but you see no reaction from the driver of the car. He messes with the scarf to see it's tight around her neck and she's dead and then he walks off. He just disappears out of the scene and the camera focuses on the ocean. You think "where'd the driver go? What happened?" which pretty much sums up the whole movie.

Vanessa Redgrave gives a great one in this film. Though I know very little about the real Isadora Duncan it really does not matter for Redgrave is so thoroughly into her character that we think she is Duncan. Redgrave has to rank as one of the great actresses of our time.

Vanessa Redgrave has a field day with this one. Captured at her peak, she prances and pontificates like a real diva, in a wild assortment of wigs and barely-there outfits. Her unconvincing American accent is the only fault in an otherwise joyous performance. Locations and costumes are outstanding. The new Kino Lorber Blu Ray DVD does justice to the lavish production. Though a bit overlong, the film is never dull and it helps to have a taste for this sort of thing. It's surprising this wasn't a hit in 1968, as it dovetails with that decade's nonconformist and free-spirited nature. Ken Russell's 1966 television version is still much better, but "Isadora" holds up well after more than half a century. Note: The optional audio running commentary on the Kino Lorber Blu Ray DVD is horrendous.